This is the time of year when people are graduating from their colleges and places of study. It is a joyous period, when newspapers such as this one are full of pictures and short reports of achievements.

Delegates from the Catholic dioceses of Ireland gathered in Kilkenny Convention Centre on October 18th to help prepare for a National Synod to be held in October, 2026 which is intended to usher in a ‘synodal’ church in Ireland.

When most people hear of old cures, they frequently raise their eyes to heaven and dismiss them instantly. In the face of modern medicine, it is difficult to believe they have any value but I’d like to think they are, at least, worth a visit.

There's a particular species of politician who discovers a problem only when it threatens to jeopardise their career. They wake up one morning, check the polls, and suddenly the blindfold falls away.

It is interesting how things change.

The 1986 film Stand By Me is a classic coming-of-age story based on a Stephen King novella, exploring the darker edges of growing up and the fragility of innocence, set in late-1950s rural America.

The sounds of old, the songs of lark and curlew, like the smell of baked bread or a smoker’s pipe, are strong in their ability to bring back fond memories. Over the years, the waft of pipe smoke has faded and, alas, so too has the song of the curlew.

Glenmore House was always far from the contentious Orange Day parades, so it’s hard to imagine that this peaceful corner of North Mayo was once home to a Unionist MP in Westminster.

If you are of a certain vintage, you may have had a realisation, probably somewhere between your first pair of reading glasses and the unsettling knowledge that the last crop of Gardaí look like schoolboys, when you stop giving a damn what anyone ...

An unspoken but obvious change in attitude in recent times is the new regard most people now have for the care of family graves.